


Forever

by SailorSol



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-15
Updated: 2011-03-15
Packaged: 2017-10-17 00:16:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol/pseuds/SailorSol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack's the only one who can actually give the Doctor forever. A brief look at Jack's time in the TARDIS.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Just another old fic I'm digging out and dusting off.

He supposed it made a rather strange sort of sense, the Doctor agreeing to take him along. Not that the Time Lord could really ever say no to Rose, but Jack knew he would have been much less welcome had he not proven himself worthy. And it had been a long time since Jack had cared enough to even bother trying. Not since before that two year gap in his memory--not since the Academy, really. But the Doctor made him want to be a better man, and he couldn't bear to let Rose down.

Three weeks of traveling in the TARDIS showed him how much alike he and the Doctor were--wanting to please Rose, not wanting to settle down (except they had, in a strange way, the three of them and the TARDIS). Jack hadn't had a feeling of "home" since had been a child, before the invasion and the war, before the Time Agency and life as a con man. He had almost forgotten what it was like, and at 36 years old, he felt like he was finally living up to his childhood dreams and expectations.

It hadn't taken Jack long to realize he loved Rose and the Doctor (even more so he loved the idea of Rose _with_ the Doctor, because there was a magic there he couldn't intrude upon, but he didn't mind not being a part of it; after all, he hadn't earned his place there, yet.) He wasn't foolish enough to promise forever, as much as he wished he could. Jack wasn't a naive child (not that Rose was a child), but he'd seen too much of what the universe held, knew enough about human nature (and alien nature) to think this life of theirs could last.

He had always believed very firmly in living in the moment, though. It was part of what had made him a good con man, but a terrible Time Agent. As much as possible, he tried to avoid considering the consequences of his actions. In the end, that's what had landed him here on the TARDIS, so he admittedly couldn't feel too guilty about having that mindset.

Jack was _happy_ living in the TARDIS. He didn't worry about his lost memories as much, didn't care as much about making money or conning people (any more than what was required in their daily travels). He couldn't remember the last time he had been this content with life and who he was.

And then he was transported away against his will and everything came crashing down around him faster than he could stop to think. When he woke up alone in the tomb that had once been the Gamestation, when he realized he was alive even though he _knew_ he'd died (though he never was sure how he knew), when he figured out he _couldn't_ die, that he could give Rose and the Doctor forever, except that they'd left him here, alone, the only thing Jack could do was laugh at the bitter irony of life.


End file.
